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The global solar headlines you need to know this week for your business decisions.

India and Chile Auctions
Set Record Low PV Prices

Record low solar prices have been
recorded at recent auctions in India and Chile, underscoring the extraordinary
gains that large-scale solar has made against its fossil fuel competitors. In
both countries, solar is now clearly the cheapest option compared to new
coal-fired power stations. In Chile, where the auction was open to all
technologies, fossil fuel projects did not win a single megawatt of capacity. The
auction produced the lowest ever price for unsubsidized solar – US6.5c/kWh.
Meanwhile in India, Sun Edison won the entire 500MW of solar capacity on
auction in the state of Andhra Pradesh, quoting a record low tariff for India
of INR 4.63/kWh (US7.1c/kWh). Again, this was unsubsidized. Analysts however
worry that the financial returns will be small on such low bids.

The Federal Ministry
of Economics has decided to wind up the KfW-storage subsidy
program, for battery storage coupled with small PV arrays, at the end of this
year, neglecting the recommendation of Germany’s scientific advisory group. Since
May 2013, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economics has supported the KfW-storage
program, to incentivize distributed battery storage. Prices for lead-acid
batteries for stationary storage have fallen 11% over the last 12 months and
for lithium-ion batteries by 18%. These price reductions are in line with the
typical technology learning curve, which posits that with every doubling of
production volume, prices fall by between 10-20%.

Up to 272.4GW of
solar will be added globally between 2016 and 2019, according to new forecasts
by research house IHS.

IHS sees solar PV module
production going from just under 180GW in Q4 2015, to just under 170GW in Q1
2016, and then climbing to nearly 180GW in Q2. A
total of 272.4 GW of solar PV will be installed worldwide over the next three
years.

Broken down,
2016 is set to see installations totaling 65GW, while 65.5GW are expected to be
installed in 2017; 68.4GW in 2018; and 73.5GW in 2019. For this year, market
analysts recently
raised their forecasts from 57.3GW to 58.7GW.

IHS says the top
five markets will comprise China, the US, Japan, India and the UK.
"Strong" PV production and shipments are anticipated in 1H,
particularly in China and the US, due to various policy measures, like the
expiring US ITC tax credit and installation deadlines.
Average selling prices (ASPs) during this period are expected to stay flat at
just under US$0.60/Wp. Going into H2, ASPs are forecast to fall.

A 7.8GW
decline in annual utility-scale installations will be seen in 2017, although
the rest of the market will grow by 11%. It’s important to note that new policy
regulations and incentives in other global markets could mitigate some of the
forecasted slowing growth in 2017.

Access Infra Africa has signed a US$100
million deal with Nigerian Quaint Global Energy
Solutions for the creation of a 50MW solar PV plant in northern Kaduna state,
to be partly funded by the US Trade and Development Agency. The ABIBA
plant will be located in Kaduna state provided the development partners can
negotiate a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Nigerian Electricity
Regulatory Commission. As soon as a PPA is signed, Access Infra Africa will be
able to seek financing from banks, topping up the 30% equity it has already
pledged as part of the US$100 million development deal. Once completed, the
solar farm will be the largest of its kind in Africa outside South Africa, and
will supply clean energy to approximately 600,000 local homes.